The Nation.

The
~

MR. CHARLES DARWIN, who hasjust passed

away full of years and honor, is probably the
man whohas done most to make the nineteenth century famous, full as it has been of
wonders, because he has done more than any
other man since Copernicus to change the
ideas of the civilized worldtouching mans
relations to the physical universe. Copernicus and Kepler may be said to have closcd
the medizval epoch, and fatallyshakenthe
authority of the Church in the domain of natural philosophy, but then they never reached
the popularmind,
and produced but little
rearrangement of ideas outside the scientific
world. Xoreover, the doctrine of evolution
as an
explanation
of the earth and the
heavenly bodies as we now see them, had
made its appearance long before Darwihs
day, without producing much
impression on
morals, or theology, or politics. It was Darwins application of it to the explanation of
the animal world, as we now see it, which
made it a really great force in human affairs
-a forcewhich, thoughit may be said to
have been felt for but little more than twentyfive years, has already profoundly aft ected the
modern way of lookingatnearlyall
social
problems. It is safe to say that there is
hardly any sphere of human activity in which
the influence of his ideas isnotfelt
in a
greater or less degree, andit bids fair to
grow withan accelerated ratio. The hostility with which they were at first received
bythe Church has alreadygreatly abated,
and probably the best educated and mosl
influential portion of the clergy of all denominations now allow them to govern their
expositions of mans relation to the unseen
as well as the seen universe, and are at least
content with his explanation of the process
through Tvhich the race became self-conscious
and moral.

Lnd more at,tention given to betteringthe

:onditions of mens livcs as the real mcans of
)ettering their lives, and less and less confitence reposed in simple commandsaddressed to
:onduct. In fact, there are some signs that this
nfluence is proving too strong, and carrying
)oth law-givers and philanthropistsintothe
langerous extreme of underrating the power
)f the human will working against environnent. I t must be admitted, too, that theappli:ation of the theory of natural selection, or, as
-1erbert Spencer calls it, the survival of the
ittest, to social and political arrangements,
iseful as it is in giving effort a rational and
ruitfuldirection,has some tendency to rexess sympathy for weakness and incalacity. Darwinism, in other words, has done
something for Bismrckism. It gives might a
lew title to the posscssion of the earth, and
nakes the wall seem more than ever
,he proper deshation of the incapable,
;he inconsequent, the feeble, and the sickly.
That the race wlll be the better cvcntually for
his immense revelation (for such it certain!y
is) of thewayin which, as far as man on
m t h is conccrncd,
through the ages one unccssing purposeruns,
there can be no doubt. But the period of
transition from the older view, wllich provided so large and even honored a place in nature for helplessness, and ignorance, and weakness, islikely to havemany dark places in
it, in which tlie most orthodox evolutionists
will be puzzled and tried.
I&_

i bill hdving passed the Senate to repeal all

permanent appropriations except (1) those
n which the Government acts merely as a
lollecting agent to receive or disburse moneys
lot belonging to itself (Marine Hospital dues,
ndian trust funds, etc.), aud (2) those which
)y common consent are necessary and indislensable, such as thesalaries of judges and increst on the publicdebt, It has been discovered
hat one of1.he permanent appropriations so
q x a l e d is that which provides for the pur:hase of $24,000,000 worth of silver bullion
sach year for coinage into silver dollars, so that
lereafter, if the bill becomes a law, it will be
lecessary for Congress to make an approprittion every year or that purpose. This the
as great
a outrage
and
ilver-menregard
;windle. It is not enough for their purpose
hat they have alam providing for thecoinage
)f $2,000,000 of silver per month, which law
.equires the Appropriation Committee of Conp s s to report the measure neccssary to carry
t into effect every session. They demand to be
?laced in a better position i n this regard than
;he Army, the Navy, the pensioners, or ConTress itself, all of whose expenses have to be
paid byannud appropriations. Theoutcry
they are making indicates that they have little
:onfidence In the strength of their position.

The question who shall take charze of

the lower Mississippi is now before the Senate
in the Nississippi Inlprore~slcntBill, which
proposed to appropriate $15,000,000 to the
repair and building of the levees,but has been
It is a significant circumstance that the sub- mended intoa single appropriation of $6,000,committee of the Committee on Banking and 000 for the improvement of navigation. The
Currency in theIIousehave
agreed upon a most noteworthy thing inthe debate thm faris
the general abandonment by the Democrats, in
report-a very able one, by the way-concurring in the recommeudations of the Secretary this matter, of then old sensitiveness about
of the Treasury and the Director of the Nint State rights. Senator Xorgan, of Alabama,
regarding silver coinage and silver cert,ificatee makes a vigorous stand against the appropriathat is, recommending the discontinuance tion, but then the cynical ascribe this to the
of both. There is no evidence, however, that fact that Alabama has no levees and does not
this committee was packed against silver. lie near the Nississippi; and the same might
The Speaker was himself a silver mxn, reprc- bc said of Senator Eayard. The more obvions
It is impossible to enumerate here all the mayt scnting a State which gave nearly all its votes points in favor of the appropriation are that
in which his influence has stimulated or con. for the Silver Bill. So, also, was the Director the work of keeping the Xississippi within its
trolled sociological investigation and legisla- of the Mint, who held a scat in Con- channel is far too great for the individual prction. Its more obvious effects are to be seenin thc gress at the time. So far as packing perty-holders along the banks, even if they were
great impetus given within the last quarter of might go it would bc more reasonable to loo!< able to combine their efforts and PTorli on a
a century to inquiry into themental
and for packing on the other side. The obvious common plan; that the States, for somemhnt
physical condition of the savages, and in thc explanation of the report is that Congress and similar rcasons, cannot meet the dif3cnit.y
greatly increased popular interest in compara- the country have been corniug around to a either ; that the General Government aloce
tive anatomy and comparative politics. Such rationd view of the matter, aided, perhaps, by has the legal power and the money to do all
books as the late BIr. Bagehots account of the refusd of Enropean countries to join us in that needs to be docc; that it is harcliy possible
nation making,inwhich
the Darwinian international remonetization. The failure of that the constitutional duty of keeping rivers
process of natural selection is appliedto the the Paris Conference to rcassemblc at the 3.1,- navigable, derived from the power to regulate
inter-State commerce, does not include tLe
origin and growth of political societies, are un- pointed time, after two previous failures to
doubtedly due to Mr. Darwins suggestion. Tc anything or even to atteznpt anythiug, has had duty of keeping the waters of agreat river
the same agency we must ascribe the gre:l1 amarked
in within its banks, so that it shall not overflow
effect upon the publicmind
stimulus given of late in legislation to the im- America. The excuse put forth by the b1. vast tracts of cotntry, and, besides destroying
provement of surroundings as a means of im. metallists, that thc Conference has been post- enormous amounts of property, make its chanproving human character. No more seriouc poned to give time for public sentiment in nel unapproachable for hundreds of miles by
blow was ever given to the ancient plan of England to ripen, is not calc111:1teci
to heighten any species of vehicle. The Nississippi, in the
reformingmankind by simple rewards and confidence in this countryin the cfticncg of ou1 cooclitiou in which it has been for the last two
punishments, than Darwin gave when he firs1 Silver Bill, sceiq that every month:: coinagc or three months,does not subserve the purposes
pointed outthe enormous influence, moral takes out of the market the vcry material eal. of inter-Statc commerce. On the contrary, it
as well as physicd, of the environment
culated to hastcn the ripening process iu Eng cuts off the inhabitants of three or four States
on theanimal. We now every day sce more land, and thus postpones the desired harvest. fromthe nse of it for commerci::l purposes

34s
altogether, besides Ixoducing, in one of the
richest regions in the Union, the effects of the
ravages of an invading army. Whether, if the
Government takes charge of the banks of the
lower Ilississippl, it\Till not haye t6 take charge
of the banks of all the navigable rivers in the
country,is a question which it is of course
proper to ask, but the answer to it must be
based not on possibilities but on probabilities.
During the m e k t h e S e m
York banks gained
$4,093,400 in tllcir surplus reserve, which
now isalittlein
excess of $9,000,000, No
gold was exported during the -seek, the excess
of merchandise imports above exports having
been paid for with securlties. At the close of
the week foreign exchange was nearer to the
gold-exporting point than at the openmg, but
theprevailing
opinion was that securlties
would still be shipped instead of gold. At
the Stock Exchange, Vnited States 4 per cent.
bonds advanced to 1214, and the 44s to llQ,
these being the highest prices ever paid for
them; on the last day of t.he meek a fractional
part of this rise was lost. The general depresqion in the stock market continued
until
Saturday, when thebears began covering their ehort sale3, with the result of advancing prices at the close of the meek above
those at the opening of the meek. For some
time only speculative considerations, and these
chiefly personal, have had anyinfluence in the
stockmarket, so thorough has been the demoralization there.
The condit,ion of the
general trade of the country is rather quiet,
but the Clearing-house returnsindicate that
the volume of bnsiness is still very large. The
outlook for the grain crops was never better
at this season of the year, and the high price
of wheat for months warrant.s the expectat.ion
of an immense acreage this year. The stoppage of some mills. and the dulness in several
manufacturing branches, have had some influence of m unfavorablecharacter on the
coal trade. In all t,he foreign money markets
therates for money are lorn. [Silver bulhon
coutmues steady in price.

A petition has been presented to the House

from Milwaukee asking for the prohlbition of
the Irish mmipratlon by a bill framed on the
same lines as the Chinese Bill. The objections
to the Irish immigration seem to be very similar io Character to those urgedagainst that
of t,he Chinese, with this
additional
one,
that the lrish owe allegiance to a foreign
Pope. In
fact,
there
appears
to be no
rdce of immigrants in the country which does
not think that it would be far better if all the
other foreigners were kept out of it, and some
even go so far as to think t,hat America would
be much improved by the exclusion of the natives. If ever the passion for exclusion gets
so st,rong thatthe wishes of each race will
have to be gratified, the country will be left
nninhabited, because all will have to go.
There is no race here whose presence the other
raced admit to be wholly useful or improving,
or in no sense an unavoidable calamity. The
. ignorant foreigner is somewhat serviceable
to the native, as furnishing somebody to blame
for n!l the crlme and corruption, but the other
foreigners get no good out of him, and think
he lowers wages, and does not live nicely

[Number
mough. Butinpract~ce all seem to get on
tmazingly vel1 together, make
plcnty
of
noney, and cont.ri5-e to be happy and comortable.
As was expected, the contest about the seat
ior Utah in the IIouse of Representatives has
Ieen decided against Nr. Cannon, t,heNormon
Lpostle. As our readers will remember, at the
ast Congressional election Mr. Cannon rc:eived a large majority of the votes cast in
he Territory of Utah, but Governor Xurray
:ave the certificate of election to Mr. Camp)ell, the candidate of the Gentiles, although
,hcnumber of votes cast for the latter was
:omparativcly insignificant. Governor Muray took the ground that Mr. Cannon was not
tud had never been a citizen of the United
States, and was therefore ineligible. Mr. Canlon then contested Mr. Campbells right to
.he seat. The Rouse of Representatives has by
ts vote on the 19thinst. unseated Mr. Campbell
In account of his having received only aminorty of the votes cast, and declared Mr. Cannon
lot entitlcd to the seat on the ground that he
s a polygamiPt. Mr. Cannon made a long
;pee& in his own behalf, availing himself of
,hisopportunity to go into an elaborate de:ence of the system of polygamy, but without
tdding anythingtothe
st.ock of argument
lsually drawn upon by Mormon missiona:ies. The effect of the rule thus established
3 9 the House of Representatives, that no poygamist shall be admitted as a delegate
Irom a Territory, will not be the election of
mtl-Mormons inUtah,butthe
election of
Kormons who are not polygamists, for there
tre a good many of that kind. Mr. Hooper,
hlr, Cannons predecessor as a delegate from
Utah, belonged to this class. Vhile Cannons
lefence of polygamy on the floor of the House
If Reprcsentatives can only serve to intensify
\he popular feeling against that peculiar In3titution and the Mormons generally, his ex::usion from the House will, on the other
band, probably be used by the Mormon leadPrs t,o inflame t,he fanaticism of their people. It is not likely to contribute much to
h e practical solution of the troublesome probof theEdmunds
law,
lem. Theworking
of course, has not -et become apparent, and
there is, therefore, no experience yet to enable
us to judge howmuch can be accomplished on
that. h e .

;Mr. Cannon would, it appears,have been

accused of murder also bad his polygamous
opinions not laxd him low. A Jew, who
at one time was a Normon under t.he name
of Abraham Levy, but is now a plain
citizen, without any church, under the name
of Adolph Razin, makes oath thatin the
year 1555 Cannon, after carefully explaining
to him the Mormon doctrine of blood
atonement, which makes death the penalty of heresy or heterodoxy, proposed that
he (Levy or Razin) should slay one Babbitt,
then Secretary of Utah Territory, in order tc
redeem and save his (Babbitts) soul from
sin. Razin did accompany Babbitt. to Wash.
ington, but did not kill him on the way, a i
had been planned, so that his soul was no1
redeemed and saved til! hewas on his way
back, when he was duly murdered by some

other person.
appears thatthis affidavit
mas prepared with the view simply of ousting Cannon from his seat, but if there is
m y truth in it., it ought to be used to get him
indicted. The blood-atonement doctrine
works both ways, and has also a strong hold
on the Gentile mind, andif Cannon caused the
death of Babbitt, his soul also ought to be
redeemed and swed from sin.
There is scarcely any doubt of a general
rrillingness to see the medical attendants of
President Garfield, as well as all those who
ministered to his comfort during those long
months of suffering, liberally compensated.
invidious discussion of the scientific merits
of the medical treatment the patient received,
as a basis of the valuation of the professional
services rendered, seems peculiarly out of
place. I t may well be assumed that every- ,
body did his best., and that, whatever errors
may have been committed,there has never
been the least reason to doubt the untiring
watchfulness and conscientious devotion surrounding President Garfields bed. Nobody
will, therefore, grudge to those concerned
the pecuniary compensation awarded to t,hem
in the billreported to the House of Representatives. Only one feature of that bill
seems tous
open to serious question. It
is the provision that Surgeon-General Barnes
andDr.Woodward
be promoted intheir
Army rank and receive pay accordingly as
a rewardforthe
services rendered on this
occasion. This seems to us veryobjectionable.
Promotion in the Army should be regulate&
upon fixed principles. The mere factthat
Army surgeons were employed in case of
importance mould certainly not give them any
claim to higher rank. Even in monarchical
countries they would in such a case be considered entitled only to a decoration in the shape
of a ribbon or a cross, but scarcely to a
promotion over the heads of others. This
would be justified only by conspicuously distinguished service, which in the case of Drs.
Barnes and Voodward is scarcely asserted.

Nom that DistrictAttorneyWoodford

is
about to make anothereffort to bring3lr. N. M.
Curtis totrial for levying assessments on
officeholders, we trustNr.
Curtis himself
mill waive technicalities and meet the case
like aman. This i&the more desirable bccause we understand his principal defence is
thathe behaved gallantly atFort Fisher,
andit does not become a brave soldier to
tryto escape answering in a court of justice bysuch pleasas that hisname
not
Fiehemiah, butSewton. Moreover, lhere
is an Englishdecision which tells dead against
t,he Fort Fisher plea--viz., thatmentorious
behavior atVaterloo was no defence to ia
charge of furious driving in the streets.
There is, indeed, no system of jurisprudence
which allows military services to be pleaded
in bar of a prohecution for civil crimes or misdemeanors. Such services may properly be considered by the pardoning power after conviction, but the District Attorney and the court
and jury can take no notice of them. Moreover, the better soldier a man has been the
more careful should he be not to seem even
to wish to evade an accusation of any kind,

..
i

Apr.

27,

18821

or to get an advantage by such a thing as a

misnomer.Dodging
of all kinds goes ill
withthemilitary
character. Mr. Curtis, far
fromtryingto
avoid atrial,ought
to be
urging the Civil-Service Reform Association
andthe
District
Attorney
to bringhim
promptly to the bar, andto indict himby
any name they please, as long as heisthe
man they mean. Brave soldiers ask eagerly
where are their accusers, not for the purpose
of escaping from them around the corner, but
for thepurpose of confrontiug thcm.

T h e Nation.
:st pages of this horrible and revolting story.
It seems as if the Russian Government were
?ither insincere in its proclaimed intention to
put a stop to these disgraceful scenes, or as if
it were powerless to do so. The latteris
scarcely to be assumed. By way of contrast,
it is very grat.ifying to observe that in Germany not only the anti-Jew movement has
completely died out,butthat
very earnest
demonstrations of sympathy with the suffering Jews in Russia, and active efforts to aid
them; havetaken its place. I n Austria, too,
organizations have been set on foot for the
same purpose.

349
:ountry as the income tax, but of this the report makes no mention. Two of the heavl:st items of increased expenditure-one of
$7,000,000, and one of$450,000-are
tbe direct results of Beaconsfields adventures in
Afghanistan, Africa, and Cyprus. Ifhe had
been allowed to keep on for another year
two, he wouldprobably have quadrupled them
TheAfghan War cost $100,000,000, which
was as much wasted as if thrown Into the sea.

TheIrish IIomeRulers
have received a
piece of supportwhichmustmakea
much
deeper .impression on the English mind than
_____
anything which has yet come from abroad, in
Sagasta has carried the ratification of his the shnpc of an addrcss to the Qucen, voted
commercinl treaty with France in thc Cortcs unanimously by the Canadian House of
by a majority of 237 to 59, after a very ex- Commons, testifying tothe
peaceableness,
citing debate. The tariff question in Spain is loyalty, and prosperit,y of the
Irish
in
curiously mixed up with various other ques- Canada, askingfor the release of the sustions, so that the division does not really repre- pects, andthe bestowal on Ireland of the
sent the relative strength of freetraders and home rule to which Canada owes so much,
protectionlsts. Castelar, for instance, refrained and which the House thinks would do much
from voting, thoughheis
doubtless afrecto assuage that hostility to the Imperial Govtradcr, because his Republican snpporters are ernmentwhichnowdiverts
from Canada a
mainlyfound
in thegreat
manufacturing large part of theIrish
emigration. What
towns, and the great manufacturing towns are will make
this
the more effective is
nearly all in Catulonia, the manufacturers and that
it
rcaches England
just
as
another
artisans of which are almost ready to rise in clamor for more coercion is beginning, or,
armsfor the tariff. The rest of Spain, how- in other words, for another passionate trial
ever, which does not like the Catalonians, and of a remedy which has failed in Ireland more
thinks they have grown rich
on their neigh- conspicuously, and more frequently, thanit
bors, and is immensely interested in the great has ever failedanywhere, andto which no
increase in the French demand for Spanish civilized community would to-day advise Engmine, standsby the Minister. In fact, the landagain
to resort.If
ever therewasa
Spanish wine trade is now growing at such a case in which pure force on a greatscale should
rate,in
consequence of the failure of the not be appealed to. It is in a struggle against
W. ROGERS,
French vines, that it is bidding fair to effect a paying rent, on the part of a large population.
Pastor Raptist Church, Austin,
We may addthat we have no doubt that complete economic revolutlon, and to set the
there are plenty of converts of the samc type country once more on its legs financially.
It would appear from Mondays despatches
in Ray, Clay, Jackson, and Johnson Counties, The statistics of the exports to Francethat
the rumors which have been current for
$Io., which, no doubt,, acconntsin part for though they are doubtless nothing towhat
some weeks, that Mr. Gladstone would shortly
they
will
be
under
the
new
treaty-are
quite
the excceding dulness of real estate in that resufficient to set the consumers of French wine announce a change inthe Ninisterial progion.
gramme as regardsIreland, were true. The
all over the world to askingwhetherthey
It appears that Mr. Frank James, far from would not do well to import the Spanish, and suspects, it is said, are all to be released, which
being dead, has put himself at the head of Ihngarian, and Italian wines themselves, and was almost certain after therecent confession
of boththePremier
and Mr. Forster, in
a movementwhich has for itsaimthe
do their own doctoring and mixing.
Parliament, that the Coercion Act had
cxtcrmination of all whose names are assoproved afailure.
The summary powers of
ciated with the death of hisbrother Jesse.
The Gladstone Budget is a less cheering docu- the magistrates are to be greatly increased,
The gentlemen who are associated with him
in thisenterprise come from the Missouri ment than was hoped for, but it is remarkably and something-really the most important
of
to be done to relieve
bottoms, or, in other words, the region which cheering considering what the outlook was thing all-is
tenants
who
are
laden
with
arrears
produced suchpoliticians and social philo- two years or even ayear ago. One of the the
duringthe
bad years,
to of rentcontracted
sophers as Polk Wells, Si1 Norris, Jim most cncouraging of the factsbrought
Land
Act had a
Dougherty, John Pomeroy, and others, lightis that the falling off inthe revenue and which, if the
retrospective effect,wouldundoubtedly
be
is
and theyare
reinforced by a few tried derived from alcoholic drinks, which
mountain outlaws from New Mexico. The considerable, does not this year indicate, largely disallowed by the Commission. I t
movcmcnt involves, we are told, not only the as it has previously done, diminished in- is the evictions for non-payment of these arof thelaboring classes. rears, which since the beginning of the year
removal of the two Fords, but all inform- come on thepart
been one of the discredit- have put between three andfour thousand
ants and witnesses in Crocker Neck. I t will It hashitherto
pcrsons out on the roadsidc, which more than
in
thus be seen that the prospects of real estate able features of British finance, that
outin Missouri are not quite so good as the Gov- good times the increase of revenue was de- aught else are keeping up the murders and
ernor thought they were after N r . James had rived largely from increased consumption of rages. Theaccount given of them by Mr.
beer and spirits by the workingmen and wo- Tuke, the English Quaker banker aud philanbeen killed. Indeed, it is safe to saythat
other
hand,
in
bad thropist, who has latelyvisitedthe west of Irethere will be no Considerable rise in the value men; while, on the
declares thathe
times a decline in the
consumption
of land, isveryshockmg.He
of farms in some parts of the State until the
Government oughtnot
to lend
accompanied by other thinksthe
various removals which Mr. James is now alcohol wasusually
endences of poverty, such as diminished de- troops and police for purposes so barbarous,
contemplating have taken place.
posits in the savings banks. This year, how- and when one reads his descriptionof the conThe persecution of the Jews inRussia is go- ever, decrease of revenue from alcohol has dition in which the evictions leave helpless
ing on withthe
old ferocity. The things been accompanied by an increase of deposits, women and chlldren, it abates a good deal of
which a fern days ago occurred in the n c i ~ h - Next to the rcceipts from alcohol, nothing ones snrpriseat thesnvagefcrocity with which
condition of the the ejected tenants avenge themselves.
borhood of Odessa will form some of the dark- affords so good a test of

There has been a good deal of controversy

in thc West as to Nr. Jesse Jamess spiritual
condition, and we have ourselves received one
or two angry remonstrances for alleging his
standingin the BaptistChurch
before his
death to have been good. Thcrc is, of course,
more or less obscur1t)y ubout everything connected with him, and we should be sorry to
vouch absolutely for the truth of anything
that is saidnbont him, except that he wasa robber and murderer of the worst kind; but that
we were not wrong about the regularity of t i s
position in the Church, for which one correspondent has challenged 11s to produce a
particle of proof, we think the following letter, which has recently appeared, is sufficient
evidence :
(
kunsas City
AUSTIN,
Texas, -4pril 12-h your sketch of
the rcligious views of Jesse James you are mistaken as to the time of his baptism. In October,
1577, at a meeting held in the Baptist Church
in Kearney, he professed conversion, and I
baptized him. He prayed several times publicly
in the praver meetiugs, and seemed very much
interestedln
for whom he prayed as his
wayward brother.-Yours very truly,